Resource CenterWBK Special Bulletins/Reports

Weiss Law Firm Lands Victory in State-Wide Challenge

Weiss Burkardt Kramer, LLC won a state-wide victory after successfully challenging the constitutionality of an inherently flawed base-year system used to determine real estate taxes in Allegheny County. The ruling has implications on systems used for determining property values across Pennsylvania.

Judge R. Stanton Wettick’s 94-page opinion declares Pennsylvania’s property assessment law allowing the use of a base-year assessment without requiring reassessments violates the Pennsylvania Constitution. The ruling reveals base-year assessments are not intended to assess all properties at the same percentage of assessed value to actual value; they inherently cause significant disparities in the ratio of assessed value to fair market value; and they inevitably discriminate against owners of property in lower-value neighborhoods.